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It’s been a while (the last issue of this mini-series came out in March) but Lady Killer returns with this new fifth issue in the second chapter of Josie Schuller’s exploits. When we begin, we meet a woman and her daughter living in poverty. The mother tells the girl that since she was born with nothing, that the girl is doubly nothing but that as long as everyone knows they were born with nothing, no one else will ever know what they really are – survivors. As the camera pulls back, we realize that as they’re talking her husband sits at the other side of the dinner table, poisoned to death by some arsenic.

Cut to the present day and Josie thinks about the seven rules of going into business for yourself. Her mother-in-law Greta Schuller has had Eugene take the girls while the two of them talk. Josie didn’t expect Irving to retaliate when he did, nor did they expect him to show up just now with a blazing pistol in hand. Josie orders Greta to hide while she takes care of their assailant. And she does, or at least she tries, but it doesn’t quite work out as planned. Thankfully Greta is faster and more able than anyone realizes, until Irving once again gets the upper hand. Once he does, Josie moves in to do what she does best.

Like Greta says to her: “Just do what you do and let’s be done with it.”

Irving is a lot tougher and a lot more determined than Josie ever thought possible.

Some things are worth waiting for. This fifth and final issue of Josie Schuller’s story ends with a pretty serious bang, but it also (thankfully) leaves things wide open for a third installment – and hopefully we’ll get that sooner rather than later. This one has it all – the action and gory carnage that’s been a big part of the series since the start but also the series’ ever important sense of pitch black humor. On top of that, we learn a bit about Josie’s background and we see how her extracurricular activities affect her personal life in a big way. And it all happens in a way that makes sense. As over the top as this series can get at times, there are moments throughout that ground it and that make the characters believable. This issue has quite a lot of those moments and it’s all the better for it.

Jones’ art is once again just as strong as her storytelling. A stand out example from this issue? We get a great two page spread of the house from a top down angle showing everywhere that Josie can hide and every angel that Irving could get to her from. It’s a clever move, on that you don’t often see exploited in comic books but one that also works really well. Again, she shows excellent attention to detail and a great way of showing us how certain characters are feeling through expressions and eye ‘movement’ – it all works really well. The coloring work from Michelle Madsen compliments things perfectly.

Really, nothing to complain about here. This series has been great from the get go and this latest issue ends things on a serious high note.